What makes a successful child?

Some variation of this question is a key issue for almost every parent. We guide our children, help them, discipline them, encourage them, redirect them and worry over them all with the hope of helping them have a good life.

This article by Albert Bandura, although quite academic, is filled with wisdom. I encourage you to close your other web pages, get a fresh cup of coffee, and try to digest it. Let me summarize four key points. The development in a child’s belief in their own abilities (the key to success) is helped along by four things:

Mastery Experiences

Vicarious experiences of social models

Social persuasion

Moderating and interpreting somatic and emotional states

The article introduces these four points in Section I, and then unpacks them throughout. Give it a read, it could positively impact your approach to parenting.